San Antonio Museum of Art Adds to Its Contemporary Art Collection

The San Antonio Museum of Art has announced that it recently acquired new works for its collection. Coming from three sources — the Dallas Consortium, the Alex Katz Foundation, and an anonymous donor — these pieces, which are now on view in SAMA’s contemporary arts galleries, flesh out the institution’s ever-growing holdings of works by living artists.

The museum’s gift of Space Time Light, a ten-work series of photographic works by artist Nic Nicosia, comes from the Dallas Consortium, which is a group of collectors that supported the artist as he worked on the project in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For these complex pieces, the artist created sets using his own photos, natural landscapes, and paint. He photographed the resulting scenes. By donating these pieces to SAMA, the Consortium honors its mission to support this period of Nicosia’s work.

Five other works of contemporary art come from the Alex Katz Foundation. Since it was established in 2004 by Katz and his wife, the foundation placed contemporary American artworks in US museum collections. The five pieces coming to SAMA from the foundation include: works by Katherine Bernhardt, Richard Bosman, Juan Gomez, Lauren Nickou, and a sculpture by Virginia Overton.

Finally, an anonymous donor has gifted the museum a large-scale sculpture by artist Catherine Lee. According to the museum, the work’s donation “is a reflection of Lee’s value as an American artist deserving of greater recognition in museum collections.”

Suzanne Weaver, SAMA’s Brown Foundation Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, states of the acquisitions:

“These generous donors are committed to supporting our Museum in its efforts to build a diverse permanent collection. On a personal level, it is very rewarding to develop relationships with collectors and patrons who share our deep commitment to artists and truly enjoy being able to facilitate their creativity, vision, and success.”

Currently, SAMA visitors can see these and other works from the museum’s collection in the institution’s contemporary art galleries. The installation also includes works by John Alexander, Eddie Arning, John Willard Banks, David Bates, Kevin Beasley, Charles Dellschau, Richard Diebenkorn, Ana Fernandez, Helen Frankenthaler, Philip Guston, Dorothy Hood, Terrell James, Paul Lee, Rodney McMillian, and Daniel Rios Rodriguez.